Johannes Schilling and Mittweida

The members of the town
council congratulate him on his 70th birthday. A street is being named after him.

1905

He is commissioned to design
the fountain planned on the market square.

1913/1914

Joh. Schilling’s sons gave
more than a hundred original plaster models and the greater part of his study
to Mittweida in order to have a Schilling
Museum established in
Mittweida. This Schilling estate represents 50 years of the artist’s work. The
jar, created by Joh. Schilling in 1849 is one of his earliest pieces of work.
His design of the fountain on the market square in Mittweida, dating from
1905, was one of his latest works of art.

1914

Two rooms were provided in
the town hall in the New Town district: the Schilling Museum of Mittweida. Due
to the Great War, however, the museum, planned and established by Director
Dr. Roch of Bautzen,
was not opened.

1922

Since the town council was
in need for new offices, they started looking for suitable rooms for the
extensive collection.

1925

The original plaster models
were brought to the secondary school on the shore
of Swan Lake
– into the basement.

1928

The town fathers planned to
build an annex to the secondary school either in 1928 or in 1929, including better
and more suitable rooms for the Schilling
Museum. In the spring
of 1928, however, parts of the furniture of Schilling’s study had already begun
to warp and to rot and the plaster models were in a miserable condition.

1932

The Society of Ethnology and
Local History had the artist’s estate taken to the Museum of Local History
on Church Hill. The honorary director of the museum, Bohne, proudly wrote:
“At this time our museum consisted of three rooms only, nevertheless I was
able to show our latest acquisition to the people of Mittweida.”

The 1970s

Until the seventies Schilling’s
estate was stored in the museum on Church Hill. In the mid-seventies the Museum
Committee was commissioned to refurbish the museum. On the occasion of a trade
fair of future master craftsmen Pestalozzi
School students were
made familiar with the collection.

An extensive inventory of
the contents of the Mittweida
Museum was unfortunately
not made before the middle of the seventies (20th century). By
this time the Schilling estate was already considerably damaged.

1995 to 1999

The Schilling estate had to
leave Church Hill. It was temporarily stored in the house of the Sattler
family.

The Unveiling of the Plaque at Schilling’s Birthplace

March 23rd 2001, the 91st anniversary of
their famous honorary citizen, the sculptor Johannes Schilling, was a happy day
in Mittweida, the county town in Saxony. At noon the chairman of the Schilling
Association, Helmuth Baron von Schilling, pulled the string to unveil the recently
restored plaque at Schilling’s birthplace.

In his speech Bruno Kny, mayor at the time, acknowledged the artist’s
merits, mentioning the fact that he had always been faithful to his native town
though he had only spent two years of his life there.

On the occasion of a family reunion in Mittweida on
4 June 2005, the Johannes
Schilling Museum
was first opened to the public. See pictures in that year’s Schilling-Courier.

Plaque
in memory of Johannes Schilling, at his birthplace in Mittweida.

Since
the unveiling of the plaque, the „Old Parsonages“ Museum shows a special
exhibition of Schilling’s life and work. On the occasion of the opening Baron
von Schilling handed over important documents from Johannes’ life, taken from
the family archives, as permanent loans. Among them the certificate of Honorary
Citizenship, a portrait of 29-year-old Johannes, painted by Julius Grüder,
patent certificates, pictures and sketches. The chairman said: “We join
together those things which belong together.” Furthermore he handed over a
cheque for 1000 D-Mark. The money was destined for the restoration of the damaged
busts.

Handing
over the permanent loansleft to right: Bruno Kny, mayor of Mittweida at the
time, Heiko Weber, director of the museum, Johannes Schilling’s great
granddaughter Ina Schilling-Nickel and the chairman of the Schilling
Association, Helmuth Baron von Schilling